Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Rights Have Been Unstripped!

I'm a bit late to the party, but late this afternoon, a Wisconsin judge struck down the collective bargaining rights-stripping law, Act 10. Unfortunately, the law is still in place for state workers, but city, county and school workers now have their rights back.

The judge claimed that Act 10 created different classes of workers in part by excluding police and firefighters. The judge found that the state had no reason to limit the wages that these public workers could bargain while allowing other employees to bargain for larger salaries.

The case can still go to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for appeal, but today was a win for democracy and workers rights in Wisconsin. It's just another case that shows Walker and his Tea Party legislators went way too far, creating far too many unconstitutional laws to limit the rights of particular citizens.

How Many Teachers Has Scott Walker Fired?

I was talking to a teacher the other day who was telling me about 21 teachers who will lose their job under her district's latest plans. She asked me, "How many teachers has Scott Walker fired?" I couldn't answer her question at the time, but I thought it was a very interesting question.

See, the whole reason that Walker says he stripped the rights of our public workers last year was to give local governments and districts the "tools" needed to deal with his massive budget cuts without firing any teachers. Walker said that this would save thousands of teachers jobs. However, we know that this has been far from the case. So, how many teachers has Scott Walker fired?

According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Scott Walker has fired* at least 1,446 teachers!

That's 2.4% of Wisconsin's teachers!  All fired by Scott Walker in one year, so that corporations and super rich people like Diane Hendricks can pay little or no state taxes. In the end, we suffer with lower-quality education. The children of the super rich go to the best private schools money can buy.

So much for saving thousands of teachers' jobs, but we all know that wasn't the reason Walker stripped their collective bargaining rights. It was to push his far-right ideological and corporate goal of stripping rights from a specific group of people he figured he could get away with, public employees. "Divide-and-conquer," as he told Diane Hendricks just before she gave Walker the biggest donation in Wisconsin history and less than a month before he "dropped the bomb."

Walker's "tools" don't work.

But we all know Walker is a big fat liar.



*Yes, I know he didn't directly fire them, but they lost their jobs due to his massive budget cuts to give tax breaks to corporations. So the buck stops at Walker.

Federal Judge Finds Unconstitutional Portions of Collective Bargaining Rights-Stripping Law

It must be Friday in Wisconsin, because more news about Walker's illegal activities has occurred. According to the WisPolitics budget blog, "A federal judge today invalidated two provisions in Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining changes: the requirement of an absolute majority of union members for recertification and denying the voluntary withholding of union dues from workers' paychecks." The provisions were included in Wisconsin's collective bargaining rights-stripping law (Act 10) passed by Walker and the far-right Republicans last spring against the protests of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites.

The judge "found the state provided no rational basis for requiring a majority of union members -- not just those voting -- to approve recertification." The plaintiffs' arguments are based on the First Amendment and Equal Protection.

This is just another unconstitutional law passed by the far-right Republicans in Wisconsin and stopped by Federal courts; the first two being the Voter Suppression Law and the illegal gerrymandering.

Scott Walker Campaigned On Negotiating With Unions

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says that he campaigned on stripping collective bargaining rights from our public employees, but no one has ever been able to corroborate that with audio, video or otherwise. Now, we have recently released video of Walker telling the Oshkosh Northwestern a week before his election that "you still have to negotiate" through collective bargaining.

Editorial Board member: Before, we were talking about state employees contributing to their plan, paying their share of the pension plan. Collective bargaining come into that?

Walker: Yep

Editorial Board member: How do you get that negotiated and accepted by the state employee unions?

Walker: You still have to negotiate it. I did that at the county as well.

Thanks to Jud Lounsbury at UppityWis for pointing the video out and editing it for consumption.

So, when did Walker campaign on stripping collective bargaining rights? Did he change his mind in less than a week?

If he felt he could negotiate with the unions, why didn't he ever try?

This just adds to the lies Walker spewed last spring, including that stripping the rights saved money.

Operation Angry Badger: Out-of-State Influence of Recall Elections and Attack on Workers' Rights

According to the New York Times, a Chicago non-profit organization has a plan to use $612,000 to influence our recall elections and other battles over workers' rights called "Operation Angry Badger." The plan was uncovered in leaked documents from the Heartland Institute, a non-profit member of ALEC supported in part by the Koch brothers.

blue cheddar dug through the documents and found some interesting stuff. On page 13 of the Heartland Institute's 2012 Fundraising Plan they list 5 projects in Wisconsin:

1. Recruit and promote superintendents who support Act 10 (collective bargaining rights-stripping bill)
2. Explain the benefits of Act 10
3. Document the shortcomings of public schools in Wisconsin
4. Expose teacher pay in key districts
5. Create blogs that shadow small town newspaper coverage of the controversy

While the group undermines public schools, they also plan to spend $250,000 promoting charter schools.

You can't make this stuff up.

blue cheddar has more information on donors and thanks "labor advocate and radio producer Brett Banditelli who read the document in full and directed I and other bloggers to this attack on Wisconsin. Here’s his twitter and I think you’ll want to check out his work at The Rick Smith Show." The New York Times has other background information.

How many other well-funded organizations from outside Wisconsin have a similar plan?

February 11th: Wisconsin Day!

One year ago today, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Koch brothers unleashed their assault on the rights of our public workers, our education, our poor, our health, and nearly everything else Wisconsin values.

One year ago today, the people of Wisconsin stood up to Walker and his rich corporate interests in historic fashion. The Wisconsin Wave has declared February 11th a new holiday - Wisconsin Day. We began the first big protests of the United States in recent history and that energy later led to the 99% and Occupy Wall Street movements. Wisconsin Wave is holding a rally noon today at the Capitol to mark the first Wisconsin Day!'

Rallies start today at 10:30am marching from the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce to the Capitol in the Bury the Mining Bill Feeder March until the Wisconsin Day rally at noon.

From the Wisconsin Wave:

February 11th is the one-year anniversary of the day Walker and his funders launched their all out assault against everything that makes Wisconsin a great place to live, work, and learn. It also marks the anniversary of the day the people of Wisconsin rose up in mass protest to not only “kill the bill,” but also to demand an end to the many economic and social injustices present in our society.

Come celebrate this historic day with a rally hosted by the Wisconsin Wave to mark a new holiday- Wisconsin Day! Speakers will address the challenges and opportunities the grassroots social movement born a year ago faces moving forward.

The rally will also serve as a launching point for a “No More Stolen Elections” campaign which will work to ensure future elections are free of voter suppression and the intentional manipulation of election results.

Speakers include: Peter Barca, State Assembly Rep.; Mahlon Mitchell, Professional Firefighters of WI; John Nichols, Capital Times & The Nation; Charity Schmidt, UW-Madison TAA; Leland Pan, UW-Madison student government, Ben Manski, Liberty Tree Foundation; John Peck, Family Farm Defenders and others!

RSVP/spread the word on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/318774838159369/

This event is part of an Anniversary Week of Action to celebrate the Wisconsin Uprising. Click here for more info!

Supreme Court Justice David Prosser Possibly Under Investigation

Several credible sources have told the Wisconsin Public Radio and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser is under investigation for allegedly grabbing Justice Ann Walsh Bradley around the neck during a recent meeting in her chambers. The physical altercation was witnessed by other justices in the room after Bradly had asked Prosser to leave.

The exact date that the altercation occurred isn't known, but it's believed to have taken place just prior to releasing the rapid and unusual decision that nullified a prior ruling that had blocked implementation of the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill.

According to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, either the Capital Police and/or the Wisconsin Judicial Commission are investigating the incident. Although neither organization is confirming or denying, Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs met with the Supreme Court regarding the matter according to one of the sources.

Prosser has had prior incidents of rage with other justices, specifically calling Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson a "total bitch" in several emails and saying he would "destroy" her.

Prosser hasn't denied the allegation, which makes it seem even more plausible.

Is David Prosser really what Wisconsin considers worthy of the seat of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice? Is this how we treat women? You've got to be kidding! If this allegation is true, Prosser must resign.

We Were Right About Supreme Court Justice David Prosser

Prosser tried to deny it after he admitted it, but we were right about him when we believed he would rule against the rights of Wisconsinites. What we didn't expect is for his corporate loyalty to be so blatant and swift. It makes me think back to the recent election and the 14,000 votes that won Prosser the seat for another 10 years, and it begs the question, is Prosser paying someone back?

There were very serious issues with that election that aren't being properly investigated, particularly with the lack of publicly verifiable election machine integrity and accuracy, including, most troubling, ballot security issues. Given the closeness of the election, the seriousness of the issues, and now doubts as to Prosser's impartiality and prudence raised by Supreme Court Chief Justice Abrahamson, I believe the election deserves a proper and full investigation by a group unaffiliated with Wisconsin elections.

Yes, I realize I'm getting very close to tinfoil hat territory here, but what's important, whether something nefarious occurred in the election or not, is closing the wide gaps in the openness and security of our elections so there isn't a doubt in future elections. And this clearly won't happen unless we get serious about investigating and fixing these issues, as serious as the Republicans are about suppressing Wisconsin voters and stripping rights from Wisconsinites.

Kloppenburg enumerated some of the issues when she conceded the election. Of the most serious issues, more than 150 ballot bags were open or torn. Kloppenburg said,

"Waukesha County had twice as many torn, open or unsealed bags as every other county in the state combined. In many cases, municipal clerks in Waukesha testifed the bags weren't torn when they left cities, towns and villages. So the security breaches occurred sometime when the bags were in Waukesha County's custody."

However, there wasn't enough information to conclude whether something nefarious occurred or not. Hence the need for a full investigation and reform. We'll be in a lot more trouble if we're questioning the integrity of not just a Supreme Court election but also 9 Senate recall elections, which could likely happen if these serious issues aren't fixed before. Yet, there's been no response that I'm aware of to Kloppenburg's letter from the GAB.

The GAB can't properly investigate the election, because, at the very least, they wrote the software that caused Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus's "human error." Notice how everyone is being careful to not call it what it is, a computer error. They definitely want us to believe the software had nothing to do with it, but that's wrong.

Besides software, the GAB works with and trains the very same people they are supposed to investigate. The GAB doesn't have the outsider's perspective required of a proper investigation. Plus, how can the GAB be trusted to fully investigate when the fault of many possible issues rests in their hands?

Also, the GAB is notoriously secretive. They need to change that behavior now, and although they improved a bit during the recount, it's another reason why they're not the right entity for investigating the election. Any investigation must be open and transparent, so we know exactly what's being investigated and how the conclusions were drawn. We haven't gotten that from the GAB.

The Democrats are even questioning the GAB's certification of the recall petitions for the 3 Democrats by filing a complaint in Dane County court to challenge the certifications. So, there's definitely enough doubt surrounding the GAB that it's clear they need to do some clean up of themselves and they're not fit for investigating the April 5th election.

We need to know our elections are truly open, clean and fair, and we must know before any more elections.

Wisconsin Senate Republicans Pass Radical Budget Without Change

Late tonight, the Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted to pass the radical far-right budget passed by the Assembly Republicans very early this morning without change. As a Republican act of class warfare, the budget actually increases spending over the previous year, while taking millions in tax breaks from the middle-class and poor and giving them to corporations instead. All 8 amendments offered by the Democrats were rejected, and thus none of the Democrats voted for the budget.

The Democrats offered an amendment that would have restored collective bargaining rights to all workers in Wisconsin, not just employees of corporations. However, all of the Senate Republicans voted to reject the amendment and keep those rights out of the reach of most of our public workers, even though we know stripping those rights "doesn't save any" money.

Some of the changes that the Democrats tried to make in both the Assembly and Senate:

• Increase investment in Wisconsin businesses through the Wisconsin Growth Fund
• Remove all WiscNet wording from the budget
• Remove tax increases on the poor and middle-class by removing the changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Homestead Credit
• Remove the $50 reduction in unemployment benefits
• Remove changes to child labor laws that allow employers to make children work more hours during school (more than 40 if they're over 16)
• Increase public school funding by $365 million and remove expansion of the choice program
• Restore funding for gifted and talented programs and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) grants
• Fund the Wisconsin GI Bill and increase financial aid when tuition increases
• Require the state to continue operating the SeniorCare program
• Remove the enrollment cap on the FamilyCare program
• Prohibit the administration from making changes to BadgerCare without legislative approval
• Restore funding for services such as fire, police and garbage collection
• Remove the significant weakening of rules on payday loans that also allow auto title loans in Wisconsin again
• Restore funding for recycling

None of these changes were accepted. No changes were accepted. There was absolutely no collaboration or compromise from the Republicans.

Thanks to WisPolitics Budget Blog for detailing much of this information! (Senate Democrat Amendments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - collective bargaining)

The Republicans aren't as fearful of the recall elections, because they've now passed just about every far-right and corporate wishlist item from the past 50 years. Let's make sure the Republicans get what's coming to them, and vote in the July 12 and 19 recall elections (if they're in your district).

Unfortunately, far fewer people have been showing up to protest all of these radical changes than showed up during ice and snow to protest. As Governor Walker signs the budget, we could really use one last massive protest to show the Republicans just how much Wisconsin is against their far-right ideals.

I'm putting my voice in for a protest this Saturday that we all must attend!

Wisconsin Supreme Court Overturns Collective Bargaining Ruling

Late this afternoon the Wisconsin Supreme Court posted their ruling that overturns the previous ruling from Dane County Judge Sumi. The lower court found the Republicans in violation of the Open Meetings Law and prevented the publishing of the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill. The Supreme Court didn't rule on whether or not the Republicans violated the Open Meetings Law, just whether or not the law can be enforced.

The court ruled that any law passed in violation of another law is still a law, the Republicans can pass a law by violating the Open Meetings Law or any other law governing the lawmakers, and thus the lower court couldn't prevent the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill from being published. And they did this not to save taxpayer money, as Governor Walker admitted, but to take more money away from taxpayers i.e., public workers.

You read that right, the majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, including Justice David Prosser, believes that our lawmakers aren't subject to our laws.

What is the purpose of being able to create laws for lawmakers if they can't be enforced?

Well, it looks like the Republicans got what they wanted out of Prosser. We all knew he would vote against the rights of Wisconsin citizens. Prosser was the key vote. The vote was 4-3 to overturn the previous ruling. Justices Prosser, Gableman, Roggensack and Ziegler concurred with the majority opinion, while justices Abrahamson, Walsh Bradley, and Crooks dissented.

If the Republicans didn't get their way they were going to add the anti-collective bargaining measures to the budget through an extraordinary session. That wouldn't have gone down well for the Republicans, and they know it, which is why they have avoided voting on the bill a second time.

The court didn't conclude that the Republicans followed the rules, just that they don't have to follow them. The Republicans violated the Open Meetings Law when they passed the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill, there's just nothing we can do about it. Unless I'm wrong, the Wisconsin Supreme Court just set legal precedent to allow our lawmakers to violate any law they like.

The collective bargaining rights-stripping bill still isn't law, but there doesn't seem to be anything left to prevent Secretary of State Doug La Follette from being forced to publish it - which will then turn the bill into law.

This was a rushed ruling (less than a week) with very coincidental timing and results. Several justices note the rush to release an opinion in their dissents.

The short decision basically invalidates the Open Meetings Law by making it unenforceable, and the ruling begs more questions than it answers. In my non-legal opinion, the Supreme Court didn't properly address the issues in this case, they barely addressed them at all.

Looks like political collusion to me!

Come to the Capitol to protest this ruling and the Walker budget, a massive protest is happening right now!

The Fight Is Not Over, Wisconsin - Massive Rally at the Capital Saturday!

The Wisconsin Wave and We Are Wisconsin are organizing a massive rally this Saturday in Madison at the Capital from 2:30-4:00pm with music and speakers. Come show Walker and the Republicans that we care deeply about Wisconsin's future, and we won't stop fighting until they start talking about real solutions to balance the budget and most importantly create jobs.

From the Wisconsin Wave:

Walker and legislative allies plan to bypass courts, jam rights-stripping measures through with their budget proposal!

We Are Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Wave will host a rally on the Capitol steps on Saturday, May 14, to send Scott Walker and his legislative allies a resounding message: stop your attacks on working people.

RSVP here: http://wisconsinwave.org/rsvp-may-14th
(please see the bottom of this event posting for info about buses coming from outside of Madison)

Wisconsinites have joined together and prevented Scott Walker’s radical plan to take away worker rights for three months, but he is not done. As we learned from their illegal attempt to jam through the budget repair bill in the dark of night, Walker and his allies are so hell-bent on taking away the rights of Wisconsin workers that they are prepared to use any and all means necessary to achieve their goals.

Now, with their first cynical attempt at union-busting tied up in the courts, Walker’s allies now say they’re ready to add the rights-stripping measures to the state budget now flying through the legislature.

Reintroducing plans to take bargaining rights away from workers into Scott Walker’s fatally-flawed state budget would consolidate Walker’s attacks on Wisconsin’s middle class into a single, horrific piece of legislation. Scott Walker’s budget:

• Raises costs in health care and food assistance programs that are relied upon by 1.2 million workers, unemployed, retired and disabled people in Wisconsin
• Breaks up and corporatizes the UW System, raising tuition and threatening closure of campuses
• Guts the ability of Wisconsin Technical Colleges to prepare and retrain working people
• Eliminates advanced placement and science and technology course in schools
• Rolls back recycling and conservation programs throughout Wisconsin

Despite all of this, Scott Walker’s fatally-flawed budget still has plenty of room for gifts for his dearest friends. Containing $200 million of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in giveaways to his largest donors, Walker’s budget is a bonanza for the donors and corporate lobbyists who surely wrote it.

The legislature must reject this horrifying budget and start over. The attacks on working families, seniors, students, the poor, and the environment and our rights must end. Join We Are Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Wave at the State Capitol at 2:30pm on Saturday, May 14, because our fight continues and we will not be silenced.

Buses will be driven in from all over Wisconsin. See the Wisconsin Wave site for more details.

Help take a stand against extreme-right policies and for real solutions! Join us this Saturday at the Capital from 2:30pm-4pm.

Don't forget to bring your friends and family, because these rallies have been peaceful and fun community events with many different people from all over Wisconsin.

Governor Scott Walker Still Lying To Wisconsin

Governor Scott Walker is still lying to Wisconsin about collective bargaining rights. Walker is still telling Wisconsinites that he needs to strip rights from public workers to save money, even though he told the U.S. Congress under oath that doing so "doesn't save any." I guess Walker doesn't have a problem with lying to us if he thinks he can get his way. I'd like to know how these actions mesh with his Christian faith.

Walker is now at least the second Republican to say they plan to add the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill to the budget if they don't get their way in the courts. Apparently, recalling six Republican senators hasn't shown them how much Wisconsin despises their plan. The Republicans are definitely testing the waters, and we should be sure to tell our representatives how we feel before something gets introduced.

The Republicans have wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars trying to force this ideological crap on us. How much more will they spend of our hard-earned money before they stop trying to take people's rights away?

Oh, and Walker thinks he can survive a recall election, too. He's dreaming if he thinks he can keep acting like this and still be our Governor a year from now. I'd say that I'd like to see him try, but I'd rather see him work with the people of Wisconsin to find real solutions to our problems.

Republicans Spent $27,000 On Lawyers To Refuse Collective Bargaining Bill Negotiation

During the debate surrounding the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill, the Republicans spent $26,955 of Wisconsin taxpayer money on lawyers trying to force the Wisconsin 14 back instead of trying to negotiate with them. The Republicans had days and weeks to negotiate, but at every step they insisted they wouldn't. Now we get the bill for their "service to Wisconsin." I call BS! For such a political move, the Republicans shouldn't be using taxpayer money, they should be using campaign or personal money.

Republican attorney Jim Troupis sure is making a lot of money from Prosser, Walker and the rest of the Republicans. It almost looks like Troupis is setting the Republicans up to come crawling back to him every few weeks. Maybe it's time the Republicans find a new attorney, because the powers the Republicans asserted (ability to arrest the Democrats) was false. How did this attorney help Wisconsin? I absolutely forbid my tax money be spent in such a way, especially when these Republicans want to cut our schools and teachers' (fully solvent) pensions to try to dig up money.

The entire cost of any damages to the Capitol building and grounds during the months of protests will likely be less than the few days of legal work for the Republicans. How dare they complain about the costs of hearing the voices of the people of Wisconsin!

Republicans have spent over $200,000 of Wisconsin taxpayer money on private lawyers so far this year, and that number is likely to more than double before the end of summer.

Also, it appears Republican State Senator Alberta Darling hasn't learned her lesson. She says if they don't get their way in the courts, they'll add the collective bargaining bill to the budget, and she'll vote for it.

Wisconsin Republicans Planning To Strip Collective Bargaining Rights In Budget

According to The CapTimes, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans still haven't learned their lesson, even though at least six Republicans who voted to strip collective bargaining rights from public workers will likely face a recall election for doing so (Republicans will likely do the same to at most three Democrats). They're planning to add the bill to the budget if they don't get their way through the courts. In fact, Tuesday, Republicans voted against another collective bargaining measure that would have restored those rights for some employees. On top of everything, the bill itself may be unconstitutional.

Republicans, why do you insist on stripping these rights away? What is the purpose, because we know and you admitted stripping those rights doesn't save any money?

Republican politicians don't care about you. Recall the Republican 8.

Wisconsin Republicans Still Vote Against Collective Bargaining Rights

Even though everyone admits, including Governor Scott Walker, that stripping collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin's public workers doesn't save money, Republicans are still voting against collective bargaining rights. According to the WisPolitics budget blog, a motion to restore "collective bargaining rights for the Wisconsin State Public Defender Association, the Association of State Prosecutors and the Wisconsin State Attorneys Association" failed today on a party-line vote.

We still haven't been told the real reason why Republicans voted to strip collective bargaining rights from our public workers.

At least six Republicans will be recalled this summer, quite possibly more, but they still haven't learned their lesson. We're the overwhelming majority, and we deserve respect!

Republican politicians don't care about you. Recall the Republican 8

Republican Politicians Want You To Pay More

If you're net worth is over a million dollars, this post is not for you.

We have a clear and strong argument against our Republican politicians, which is supported by their actions. Republican politicians care more about wealthy individuals and corporations than most Wisconsinites. We are the overwhelming majority, and it's time our legislators focus on our problems.

Evidence

• Collective bargaining bill
• Strip away workers' rights and forcibly reduce benefits. If corporations ask for the same "flexibility," will the Republicans decline?
• Walker budget proposal
• Significant cuts to most if not all vital public services. Tax breaks for corporations.
• Extension of Bush tax cuts for the very rich
• Obama agreed to this only to preserve the tax cuts for everyone else. Otherwise, the Republicans would have been happy to increase all of our taxes.
• Republican (Paul Ryan) budget
• Significant cuts to many vital public services including eliminating Medicare and Medicaid as we know them. Significant tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations.
• All but 4 Republican House Representatives voted for this proposal

The result is that all of us end up retaining less money, while the wealthy get wealthier.

This argument is simple, effective and more than barely true. This should be the argument that we reach for first. Republican politicians care more about wealthy individuals and corporations than you.

Corporations have already been bailed out and given huge tax cuts, and the stock market is up over 50% since April 2009. So we know most of them are doing quite well. Yet they're still not creating any significant amount of jobs. More tax cuts aren't going to convince them much more. In fact, I'd argue that we need to stop babying the corporations so they start creating jobs. Corporations used to pay a much larger share of taxes, and they flourished. Since they won't hire from increased profits by tax cuts, remove the tax cuts and force them to increase profits through hiring, or simply get them to hire out of fear that we'll remove the tax cuts. The CEOs could easily afford a pay-cut if it came to that (maybe a temporary CEO salary cap).

I dare anyone to prove me wrong.

We need to fight for our respect, and the most effective way to do that now is to help recall the Republican 8 before the May 2nd deadline (one week from today)!

Five Republican 8 Senators To Face Recall Election - Many Recall Efforts Questioned

Organizers for the recall of Wisconsin State Senator Alberta Darling filed their overwhelming collection of signatures today according to the AP. The announcement was hinted at on Tuesday by Ed Schultz on his MSNBC show, The Ed Show, and Uppity Wisconsin spotted the organizers' announcement last evening.

Before this week, petitions were already filed to hold a recall election for two of the eight Republican senators. Senator Dan Kapanke was the first senator whose district gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall, and Senator Randy Hopper was the second. With the announcements from Monday and the filings Tuesday from the recall campaigns for Senators Luther Olsen and Sheila Harsdorf, half of the Republican 8 senators will face a recall election. Now, five of the Republican 8 senators will face a recall election, and that means there's a good chance the Democrats can retake the majority of the Senate. However, that does depend upon the success of any recall attempts by the Republicans.

The Republican 8 are being recalled for outright lying to Wisconsin and voting to strip collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin workers. Two senators facing a recall election with just over half the allotted time to get signatures was quite amazing. Now, just two weeks since filing a petition for Randy Hopper's recall, it's unbelievable that three more senators have been added to the list. It shows just how strongly Wisconsin feels about workers' rights.

The effort to collect enough signatures for Senator Robert Cowles is thought to be not far behind, though it's difficult to tell as I've been saying this for a while now.

In the same time, the Koch brothers and Republicans have been trying to recall eight Democrats. According to the AP article, three of the efforts have resulted in enough signatures to file petitions with the Government Accountability Board. However, as I spotted earlier, the Wisconsin Democrats are calling into question the means for which the signatures were collected. Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Mike Tate said that he guarantees "there will be fraudulent signatures turned in." There's also this article from Slate. From a TPM article,

"On a conference call with reporters on Thursday morning, state Dem chair Mike Tate and attorney Jeremy Levinson predicted that they would able to successfully challenge the validity of much of the signature-gathering effort by Republicans -- which Tate repeatedly called a "racket."

[Tate said,] "In the coming days, you will see affidavits from citizens in these targeted districts who were deceived into signing petitions by the Republican roadies who often refused to identify themselves by their real names."

"In addition, Tate said that the Dems had stories on hand of people being misled into signing: "We've had people lying saying this is in support of [Democratic state Sen.] Dave Hansen, not to recall Dave Hansen. There are going to be examples of these mercenaries who are paid to collect as many signatures as possible, not valid signatures."

"Also, Levinson said that Democrats would not even necessarily have to scrutinize all the individual signatures, looking for ones to disqualify. "We know as fact that they have had people circulating signatures who are legally prohibited from doing so. Those signatures should all be tossed," said Levinson, also adding: "To circulate a petition, you either need to be a qualified elector [voter] in wisconsin or eligible to be a qualified elector in Wisconsin."

"In particular, Tate said that the Republicans brought in paid signature gatherers from out of state, who were paid on a per-signature basis, and that some of these gatherers had criminal records."

On the other hand, as Tate stated, signatures to recall the Republican 8 were almost entirely collected by volunteers with paid organizers there to oversee. The magnitude of Wisconsinites who support democracy and workers' rights is becoming very clear. Keep up the good fight!

The remaining efforts to get signatures for the Republican 8 are for:

• Senator Robert Cowles - Senate District 2
• Senator Glenn Grothman - Senate District 20
• Senator Mary Lazich - Senate Disctict 28

Even though the recall campaigns have been going extraordinarily well, these remaining efforts need all the help they can get because the deadline to collect signatures is quickly approaching - May 2nd.

I should mention that Republican Senator Dan Kapanke also believes he has a case against his recall, because he feels sufficient paper work wasn't filed. I'm not sure how much legal weight there is behind his argument. He filed a challenge on April, 15th and the organizers filed a rebuttal Tuesday saying the claims were "insubstantial potshots." The deadline for Kapanke to respond is today, but I can't find any news regarding his response. So it's likely he's given up.

Voter Distraction Bills Across The Nation

Just like the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill, bills similar to Wisconsin's Voter Distraction Bill (SB6) are being proposed all over the country in a coordinated effort. "The Interview" on the Rachel Maddow Show Tuesday evening had incoming DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz talking with Rachel about fake voter fraud claims and the many bills across the country similar to our Voter Distraction Bill.

These bills try to solve an almost non-existent issue, voter fraud, by requiring an ID to vote. Not only has voter fraud been shown to be a non-issue in Wisconsin but also in many other states as well. The only reason these bills are being proposed is to try to disenfranchise all voters, particularly new voters, and Schultz said it's a way to use the system to "rig elections."

Schultz and Rachel also discuss how bills such as the collective bargaining rights-stripping bill are another way to "rig elections" by reducing the amount of money going to Democratic candidates.



Why do we even have to register to vote once we become eligible?

On a slightly different note, John Nichols wrote in The CapTimes the best article I've read on the Tea Party Tax Day rally and said that the Tea Party supporters in Madison this weekend were outnumbered by a factor of about 5 to 1.

Fifth Wisconsin Republican 8 Senator Recall Announcement Coming

MSNBC's The Ed Show has become the place for breaking news on the Republican 8 recall campaigns. John Nichols has correctly hinted about coming recall announcements at least two times on The Ed Show. Tuesday evening, Ed Schultz hinted that an announcement regarding the recall of a fifth Republican 8 senator is coming, and he said that senator is most likely Alberta Darling.

The short segment doesn't appear in the videos online, but another interesting piece of the show was when Ed interviewed a resident from Waukesha who attended yesterday's town hall on Paul Ryan's budget.



Before this week, petitions were already filed to hold a recall election for two of the eight Republican senators. Senator Dan Kapanke was the first senator whose district gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall, and Senator Randy Hopper was the second. With the announcements from yesterday and the filings today from the recall campaigns for Senators Luther Olsen and Sheila Harsdorf, half of the Republican 8 senators will face a recall election. Now, it sounds like at least five of the Republican 8 senators will face a recall election, and that means there's a good chance the Democrats can retake the majority of the Senate.

The Republican 8 are being recalled for outright lying to Wisconsin and voting to strip collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin workers. Two senators facing a recall election with just over half the allotted time to get signatures was quite amazing. Now, with just over a week since filing a petition for Randy Hopper's recall, it's unbelievable that two more senators have been added to the list, not to mention a likely third. It shows just how strongly Wisconsin feels about workers' rights.

In the same time, the Koch brothers and Republicans have been trying to recall eight Democrats. However, they haven't been able to gather enough signatures to recall even one.

The effort to collect enough signatures for Senator Robert Cowles is thought to be not far behind, though it's difficult to tell.

The magnitude of Wisconsinites who support democracy and workers' rights is becoming very clear. Keep up the good fight!

The remaining efforts to get signatures for the Republican 8 are for:

• Senator Robert Cowles - Senate District 2
• Senator Alberta Darling - Senate District 8 (likely complete)
• Senator Glenn Grothman - Senate District 20
• Senator Mary Lazich - Senate Disctict 28

Even though the recall campaigns have been going extraordinarily well, these remaining efforts need all the help they can get because the deadline to collect signatures is quickly approaching - May 2nd.

Fourth Republican 8 Senator To Face Recall Election - Sheila Harsdorf

John Nichols hinted last week that more recall petitions would be filed for the Republican 8. Yesterday, Senator Luther Olsen became one of those senators, and Steve Hanson at Uppity Wisconsin reports that today Senator Sheila Harsdorf will become the fourth. Volunteers announced last evening that they will be filing the recall petitions with the Government Accountability Board today.

Before this week, petitions were already filed to hold a recall election for two of the eight Republican senators. Senator Dan Kapanke was the first senator whose district gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall, and Senator Randy Hopper was the second. With the announcements from yesterday and the filings today, half of the Republican 8 senators will face a recall election.

The Republican 8 are being recalled for outright lying to Wisconsin and voting to strip collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin workers. Two senators facing a recall election with just over half the allotted time to get signatures was quite amazing. Now, with just over a week since filing a petition for Randy Hopper's recall, it's unbelievable that two more senators have been added to the list. It shows just how strongly Wisconsin feels about workers' rights.

In the same time, the Koch brothers and Republicans have been trying to recall eight Democrats. However, they haven't been able to gather enough signatures to recall even one.

The effort to collect enough signatures for Senators Darling and Cowles are thought to be not far behind, though it's difficult to tell.

The magnitude of Wisconsinites who support democracy and workers' rights is becoming more clear. Keep up the good fight!

The remaining efforts to get signatures for the Republican 8 are for:

• Senator Robert Cowles
• Senator Alberta Darling
• Senator Glenn Grothman
• Senator Mary Lazich